An MBTA official said daily ridership on the Heart to Hub - between Worcester and Boston - is trending positively, particularly on the morning train.

“It’s going in the right direction in the morning; it’s slow in growth, but it’s growing,” said John “Jody” Ray, MBTA assistant general manager for Commuter Rail. “We thought we’d start off with 100 people on the train, and now we're approaching counts of 200. In the scheme of things, that’s not a lot of ridership on a train, but the ridership is continuing to grow.”

But the highly promoted nonstop service has missed MBTA reliability targets - that 90 percent of all commuter rail trips be on time - by a wide margin.

“Almost from the inception of the express - there was a tremendous amount of track improvement work,” Mr. Ray said in response. “We had hoped to be done in the middle of June, but didn’t finish substantially until the end of July.”

Daily ridership on the Heart to Hub averaged 163 passengers in May, 160 in June, and 158 in July on the morning inbound train, while the same months saw 96, 66, and 63 daily riders on average on the evening train to Worcester, according to MBTA statistics.

Both MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo and Mr. Ray said ridership generally decreases 10 percent during the summer months with schools out of session and people on vacation. But overall ridership trends compared with previous years and revenue on the system has increased, Mr. Ray said.

Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Timothy P. Murray, who has long supported and promoted increased passenger rail for Worcester, said it is too early to fully evaluate the Heart to Hub.

“It will take a year and operating through all seasons to evaluate and see where it’s working, not working, where we can make tweaks, and see where we can change,” Mr. Murray said. “I understand these things take time and we’re playing catchup in terms of chronic underinvestment in the infrastructure.”

But he stressed that it is critical that the nonstop service succeed.

“It’s important that they be successful, that they’re increasing ridership, that we’re leveraging the service for economic development - there are 800 new units of market-rate housing, new hotels being built …,” Mr. Murray said. “We’ve got to push as hard as we can to make sure these trains live up to the billing.”

Morning H2H has averaged 20% OTP, the evening 65%.

H2H isn't going anywhere I think, though I suspect that these trains will have less seasonal variation than normal for CR, since their commuter credentials are fairly weak. I still think we'll see it add Framingham, Natick Ctr, and maybe even Wellesley Sq.

As a regular morning h2h rider, I seriously doubt that it's going anywhere either, or adding any additional stops. I've counted roughly 40-50 people in the quiet car, and maybe 10-20 on a given day are riders I used to see on 508, so it's not a day tripper only train. I also see a lot of the same faces going home on 523.

The major hurdle I see it a runaway success is the departure/arrival time. If they could schedule it for right before 508 in the morning and have it leapfrog 506 before Framingham, I bet you'd be able to pack a 4 flat consist every day, and alleviate congestion on 506/508.

My sources indicate RR ops suggestions to add stops to #HeartToHub have been definitively ruled out in no uncertain terms. Likewise, eliminating it from the upcoming October or November schedule is very unlikely. It is a very high profile political agenda item. Sounds like nobody from MBTA or Keolis has any influence on what will happen with this train.

Explain to me how 163 to 160 to 158 passengers is “It’s going in the right direction in the morning; it’s slow in growth, but it’s growing" and "now we're approaching counts of 200?" Sounds #BasciallyFlat to me... Jody's a great guy, but sounding a little too much like a politician!

dbperry wrote:Explain to me how 163 to 160 to 158 passengers is “It’s going in the right direction in the morning; it’s slow in growth, but it’s growing" and "now we're approaching counts of 200?" Sounds #BasciallyFlat to me... Jody's a great guy, but sounding a little too much like a politician!

Agree with you on that, although I do think the stability of the number shows that there is a base demand for the train even in the quietest months for the Worcester line. The interesting passenger counts will come during Sept->Dec when Worcester returns from it's May->August vacation.

Tonight (Thursday 8/11), the MBTA will be running special Patriots trains from Providence (departs TF Green at 4:35) and South Station via Walpole (departs South Sta at 5:35).

Both trains are in the height of peak service times. Just curious, but where does the equipment come from? It seems as if equipment is awfully scarce these days. And Patriots trains are usually bi-level sets.

A bunch of short-turns have been proactively cancelled on the north side (193/194, 293/294, 295/296, 393/394). That could be part of the equation. But of course 212's accident earlier today took a set OOS as well.

ohalloranchris wrote:Tonight (Thursday 8/11), the MBTA will be running special Patriots trains from Providence (departs TF Green at 4:35) and South Station via Walpole (departs South Sta at 5:35).

Both trains are in the height of peak service times. Just curious, but where does the equipment come from? It seems as if equipment is awfully scarce these days. And Patriots trains are usually bi-level sets.

I attended the game last night, and while I did not take the train, I was able to catch a glimpse:-The Providence set was a six car flat set with a GP40.-The Boston set had an HSP-46 followed by at least two bi-levels, but the trees blocked the view of the remainder of the train.

They do sell tickets to the Pats train in advance, and sell out when they reach capacity. So I suppose that's how they manage the crowd (but the crowd for pre-season games is fairly light anyway).